A Novel Bi₂MoO₆/ZIF-8 Composite for Enhanced Visible Light Photocatalytic Activity

Abstract

A series of novel Bi2MoO6/zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8) photocatalysts have been successfully fabricated through a facile self-assembly process. X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), UV-vis spectrophotometry, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) characterized pure Bi2MoO6, pure ZIF-8, and a series of Bi2MoO6/ZIF-8 composites. The result indicated that, when compared with pure Bi2MoO6, the composite of Bi2MoO6/ZIF-8 exhibited excellent photocatalytic performance for the degradation of methylene blue (MB) under visible light. Moreover, the Bi2MoO6/ZIF-8-3 composite (the molar ratio of Bi2MoO6 to 2-MI is 3:3) has optimum photocatalytic performance because of the suitable amount of ZIF-8 decorated on the flower-like Bi2MoO6. The enhanced photocatalytic activity is probably due to the introduction of ZIF-8, which will promote the separation of electron–hole pair and the surface morphology. Benefitting from the diversity of the MOF species (ZIF-8 is one of them), this composing strategy of Bi2MoO6/MOF composite would provide new insight into the design of highly efficient visible light photocatalysts.

Keywords

• Bi₂MoO₆
• ZIF-8
• photocatalysis
• morphology